Fewer hardcore gamers, more mobile players

The total number of gamers in the United States fell 5 percent to 211.5 million, NPD said in a report this week.

Among them, the number of hardcore gamers, young children and family players and PC gamers all dropped, with the number of family and kid gamers declining the most, with 17.4 million fewer playing.

Only the number of mobile and digital gamers rose this year, no doubt fueled by the increasing number of smartphones and access to cheap and free gaming apps like Angry Birds.

Hardcore gamers are still critical to the industry, since they spend the most money — $65 on physical games in the past three months compared with $48 for general gamers. But NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier said the decline in core gamers is likely because it’s been a while since consoles such as the Xbox have been massively updated.